The invention relates to a server system for the administration of sequences for agricultural working machines and to a control device for processing sequences for agricultural working machines.
Agricultural working machines typically are utilized with a series of working devices. The working devices are either permanently installed or are coupled-on and are provided to perform various working steps, or are even used as working machines connected to one another in a train. It is also known to permit the control of the agricultural working machine and the working devices to be performed by a control device disposed thereon, such as an electronic control unit.
The agricultural working machine often works through a field of crop and, once the boundary of the field of crop is reached, enters the headland. In the headland, a certain sequence of control processes must be implemented on the working devices. The control sequences depend on the specific working devices installed on the agricultural working machine and on various basic conditions specific to the particular circumstances. This sequence of control processes is often the same for a certain combination of working devices installed on the agricultural working machine and for a predefined type of crop on the field and headland.
It is known from the prior art, such as DE 102 50 694, to design the electronic control unit such that a sequence of control processes that is repeatedly entered by the operator is automatically detected and is stored as a learned sequence of process steps of the agricultural working machine and the working devices thereof. A sequence of process steps learned in this manner can then be called up once more by the operator simply by pressing a button, or can even be automatically triggered depending on a certain position of the working machine in the field of crop or headland. It is furthermore known from the prior art also to further process and analyze such sequences outside of and remote from the control unit, for example, on a stationary computer of the particular agricultural operation, which can be referred to as a farm personal computer (PC). It is thereby made possible to utilize a nearly subliminal experience of the operator of the agricultural working machine in the manual input of control processes to generate a corresponding sequence of process steps having the correct parameters.
The disadvantage of this prior art is that this learning effect, in which the knowledge and skills of a human operator are electronically detected and further processed, is only available to a small circle of users. In the above-described constellation, a sequence of thusly generated process steps is used only on fields belonging to the same agricultural operation and can be shared only sporadically, and not systematically, with other users of an agricultural working machine having a similar control unit.